86

ON CV STAR OF Bethlehem, Captain Frank is desperate, and shouting. “Do any of you people know how to fire one of these things? Are any of you veterans?” He has just managed to pull one of the Stinger missiles out of its box. “I need an infantryman here!”

He gets one, a red-haired diesel mechanic from Kansas City.

“Sir,” Taylor C. Briggs says. “You got that backwards. You’re gonna shoot yourself to kingdom come if’n you don’t turn it around.”

“You know how to operate one of these gizmos?”

“Piece of cake, sir. You see this here, this pops up. It’s your view-finder. Gives you general direction. Then you get it up on your shoulder—”

“Jesus H. Christ, kid. Don’t teach, do! Grab this pig iron and get ready. Those mothers are coming back. They’re turning now!”

A mile out to sea, the Syrian formation performs a graceful unified Immelmann turn and slows to come in low.